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Sierra Club Explains TPP and its Consequences in New Video

by • June 25, 2015

TPP

By Kate McCormick, The Sierra Club

For United States citizens and those living in the 11 other nations it encompasses, the TPP isn’t just a random string of three letters. It refers to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal being negotiated between our country and 11 others in the Pacific Rim. But for most of these citizens, in the United States or those across the ocean, the TPP is still just three letters — many don’t know the meaning behind it, and how truly expansive the consequences of it may be.

That’s what’s most alarming — this trade deal can affect almost every single aspect of our lives, from our right to clean air, food, and water, to our jobs being sent overseas, to our access to healthcare and medication. Sadly, the TPP is being written up behind closed doors in almost complete secrecy by the very people that stand to benefit from it: Corporations. What little we know about it we’ve found out in small increments from leaked texts.

We have a right to know what this trade deal means for us, our families, and our futures. That’s why the Sierra Club made this video. It explains what the negotiators are reticent to tell us, some of what we do know about the TPP, and the consequences of the colossal deal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYm6nGCF46I&feature=youtu.be

As the video shows, with the TPP, unfair trade law called investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) could become commonplace. This means that multinational corporations that pollute our air, food, and water will be able to sue our governments in private trade tribunals as a way to allow their pollution to continue. Worse still, the environmental chapter within the trade deal that should address environmental protections including bans on illegal logging and shark-finning actually don’t force compliance. Despite the fact that the writers of this trade deal realize that these are big problems our nations face, they are doing nothing to fight them in a legally binding way.

The beautiful coastlines that California is known for could be subject to new, massive export terminals used for trading between these Western nations; its mountain ranges marred by energy pipelines; its valleys riddled with fracking.

Citizens across the United States are fighting to save their jobs, communities, and families as the United States continues to negotiate this trade deal. To find out more, please visit our website, and help to educate your community on what the TPP could really mean for America.